Second System

Recent LGA AirTrain news has revealed a remarkable shortsightedness among our transit writers and politicians. They keep begging for the Triboro RX and airport one-seat rides and thus they oppose incremental connections. But might our AirTrains one day be expanded into a system similar to the Vancouver SkyTrain?  Might one-seat airport rides to Manhattan be easier than most transit writers claim? Dream with me for a moment.

One Seat Rides & CBTC

Transit writers tell us the LIRR tunnels lack the capacity for one-seat airport rides. But might they one day in the future? Continue reading →

Reactionaries at NYPost have a new, odd alliance with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and transit blogger Benjamin Kabak. These hypocrites are silent on the equity of other Port Authority airport projects yet they never stop complaining about the LGA AirTrain. Let’s examine some of their claims.

“If we’re looking at this from a transit perspective, it’s a very dubious proposition for New Yorkers,” – Benjamin Kabak

What is dubious about a 25 minute trip fro midtown to LGA? Have you ever ridden the Link Train at Toronto airport, the CDGVal at Paris DeGaulle, or the Gatwick people mover in London? At each of those airports some terminals require passengers arriving by train to take a short ride on a people mover. Nobody complains that getting to those terminals is a “2 seat ride” because everyone understands that the people mover portions of those trips are really a freakin short.

The NYPost claims, “every transfer adds uncertainty and delays” but that is unlikely given the system’s simplicity. It will be one-stop, 1.5 miles, a mere 4 minutes from Willets Points to LGA. I suspect that this project is only drawing attention due to its use of off-airport land. Do these cranks have such strong opinions when the Port Authority builds longer and more complex on-airport people movers at, say, Newark?

“This decision will have a lasting impact on thousands of people in our community,” -Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

No, actually, it won’t. Not at all! The route along the Grand Central Parkway was chosen precisely because it doesn’t impact residential communities. It adds neither noise nor increased traffic to the area. It intentionally uses the same, quiet and unobtrusive technology as the Vancouver SkyTrain and JFK Airtrain. These trains are beautiful, they’re straight out of The Jetsons. Take a field trip, at least to southeast Queens if you can’t make it to Vancouver, and you’ll see how little impact these structures have.

“If reducing traffic is the goal, just shore up dedicated bus lanes, as AOC and the Manhattan Institute’s Connor Harris each advise.” – NYPost Editorial Board

Why are buses mutually exclusive with the AirTrain? Rapid bus service should be expanded from LaGuardia to every corner of the city. This blog has, in fact, advocated extending the Q70 to Greenpoint. Buses that currently terminate in Flushing could be extended to connect with the AirTrain at Willets Point. An efficient, modern bus network is still a critical part of shortening the LGA commutes.

Oh boy, the shutdown is off but the L is still went out unexpectedly last week, stranding riders. My hope was that, due to the shutdown, July 2020 would bring a series of new transit redundancies, including:

M14 SBS (has anyone tried getting on the L at 1st Ave in the morning? If so you probably support this one)

Ferry Service to 23rd street (with 7 minute head-ways and shuttle-like frequency – very different from the published schedules of the current East River Ferry)

Bridge HOV Lane & New Bus Routes (providing excellent connections between Williamsburg and several Manhattan subway hubs)

Now we get none of it, save for perhaps the M14 SBS according to NYTimes. Since launching last year this blog’s sole focus has been on creating transit redundancy for North Brooklyn, on the premise that the short-term L train crisis would spur long-term gains. We explored better connections to LaGuardia, service on the Bushwick Branch, and re-invigorating the BQX.

But the L keeps going out for reasons that have nothing to do with the Sandy-damaged tubes. And so redundancy still matters. A quarter million people cross the river in those tubes each day and most of the current alternatives are highly circuitous. What is to be done?

Most New Yorkers know that the Second Avenue Subway is being completed in phases. They may not care about accessing the Upper East Side themselves (a la Phase I), but they understand that the city’s end goal is a line running the full length of Manhattan and potentially continuing into other boroughs. The media explains this to them and they tell their friends.

The BQX, however, is billed both by the city and the media as a one-off project. This is absurd. First, light rail typically begins with single trunk line and is then expanded (see Planned Light Rail Systems). Second, planning additional phases now, even in name only, would help reduce cynicism and promote the line’s construction.

Here are a few useful BQX spur ideas to generate excitement among New Yorkers:

• Over the Queensborough Bridge into Manhattan
• East into Bushwick, paralleling the L train corridor
• North to LaGuardia airport / East Elmhurst

Continue reading →

Recent controversy surrounding Peter Wayner’s think-piece on turning subway tunnels into highways for autonomous vehicles should have been an opportunity to advocate for surface transit rights-of-way. The uncertainty surrounding the hours and longevity of the Williamsburg bridge HOV lanes illustrates the ongoing difficulties faced in claiming surface rights-of-way for a new Second System! CityLab and others crafted serious rebuttals to Wayner and Twitter exploded with parody. They blew it.

HOV/Bus lanes ought to blanket the city, likely a necessary preparation for autonomous transit but also immediately useful for CURRENT TECHNOLOGY. A mix of public and private services, see this blog’s Chariot SBS post, could be deployed via usage rules or licensing schemes – ironically similar to the “open marketplace” Wayner imagines underground.

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3:37 PM on May 30th, 2018

You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. In July 2020 the L train will have recently reactivated. But what, if any, of the ‘temporary improvements’ will remain?

The contenders:

• Ferry Service to 23rd street
• M14 SBS
• Williamsburg Bridge HOV Lane
• New Bus Routes Williamsburg <-> Manhattan
• Expanded G and M service

Continue reading →

One would assume that, in light of the subsidies and political capital being spent on ferries, the city would also extend relevant bus routes to the ferry docks. Nowhere is their failure to do so more obvious than in North Brooklyn, where many bus lines stop a mile short of the waterfront at Williamsburg Bridge Plaza. So far the L shutdown plans do not include improving access to ferries by expanding existing bus routes.

Routes ought to be extended and recent bus-branding successes should be deployed to promote awareness. A look at the Brooklyn bus map reveals a few possible targets: Continue reading →

The LaGuardia Link (aka Q70) bus, which runs from Woodside to LaGuardia Airport with a stop in Jackson Heights, has been a tremendous success.  Good planning and marketing have made LGA a reliable 30-40 minute ride from midtown and the Q70 is slowly changing the public’s perception of LaGuardia’s accessibility. The plans for an AirTrain to Willets Point will, of course, provide another option with similar, perhaps longer, travel times.

What role will the LaGuardia Link play once the AirTrain opens? We suggest the city build on the Q70’s success by extending it to other parts of the city. One possibility is to send it down the almost straight shot that is Greenpoint Ave into, at least, Greenpoint and perhaps further into north Brooklyn, where it would facilitate inter-borough travel and become the area’s quickest trip to LGA.

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Source: Chariot.com

The city’s BusForward program has been slowly expanding Select Bus Service (New York’s BRT scheme) on existing bus corridors. Unfortunately new routings are not on the drawing board. Chariot, a start-up with money from Ford and Silicon Valley, has, however, been rolling its app and commuter van service out along new rush hour routes.

The fact is that many Brooklyn & Queens neighborhoods are less than 15 minutes by road from Manhattan and the private sector is stepping in because the city has failed to imagine successful, inter-borough bus service. The MTA postponed (aka cancelled) plans to send a new bus through the Brooklyn-Battery tunnel in 2009. Cap’n Transit posted an analysis in 2009, examining which routes might work for the Midtown Tunnel.  A follow-up post came in 2013, examining Williamsburg Bridge routes.

Surprise Surprise that Chariot launched in 2017 and two of their four routes focus on getting Williamsburg commuters in and out of Manhattan at rush-hour, one via the Williamsburg Bridge and the other via the Midtown Tunnel. They are targeting commuters who currently lack a one-site ride to their destinations.

Admittedly Chariot is aimed at ‘waterfront’ residents with extra cash to spend. That said, the company ought to inspire the city to launch new SBS routes along similar corridors. It is worth remembering that many of the current MTA Bus routes, and especially those between boroughs, were originally launched by private companies. The city’s disinterest in start-up subsidies for new, inter-borough bus routes might be understandable if our politicians weren’t so focused on the less efficient ferry roll-out.

Bushwick Spur at Morgan Avenue

Earlier this year DOT published a 289 page study of passenger service on the Lower Montauk line, an LIRR right-of-way between Long Island City and Jamaica that hasn’t seen passenger service since 1998. Their conclusion: implement service via DMUs (diesel multiple units) similar to those in use on the SMART train and the Union Pearson Express, build relevant infrastructure (stations, signaling, etc), and activate service with subway-like fares and frequent rush hour service.

Will the study catch the eye of an aspiring politician? The crux, vis-a-vis gaining support, is not to see this as one-off.  As a trunk line it could become the backbone for regular DMU service to other parts of the city.

Continue reading →